


home is where the heart is

by writingalaxies



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Minor Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Platonic Cuddling, Post-Season/Series 07, Team Bonding, Team as Family, They ALL Deserve Happiness, everything is soft okay, it's hinted so softly you might blink and miss it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 15:50:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16244870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingalaxies/pseuds/writingalaxies
Summary: When it's all over, when they have fallen from the sky and Earth is saved, they find each other.





	home is where the heart is

_When it’s all over_ –

when Shiro’s speech reverberates in thousands of heads like a steadily growing echo of hope and people turn towards each other with relieved, genuine smiles; when it feels like the world can release a breath it’s been holding for too long and finally rid itself of years worth of violent tension; when the paladins’ pain meds have worn off enough to not make them drowsy anymore

– _they gravitate back to each other._

It doesn’t even matter whether their rooms are just down the hall or in an entirely different hospital wing because finding each other, after everything they have been through together, comes as naturally as breathing.

Lance is the first one out of bed, his steps light and tentative to avoid jostling his bruised ribs (and, admittedly, to give himself some time to get used to carrying his own weight again). The crash seems a lifetime ago, although it cannot have been more than … Lance’s brows furrow. He isn’t sure how much time has passed, or if anyone told him at some point.

He _is_ pretty sure he lost consciousness before Red hit the ground because the last thing he remembers is clinging to her pilot seat as she tumbled through the exploding air in freefall, systems crashed and lights out, and Lance had closed his eyes, absolutely, _terrifyingly_ certain he would never open them again.

But here he is – exhausted, but very much alive, his family trailing around and behind him as he makes his way to a door at the far end of the hallway.

“We will go grab some coffee. Some snacks for the kids,” his mother tells him with a gentle smile, already motioning for Veronica to take everyone downstairs. “Go catch up with your friends.” She opens her arms and something tightens in Lance’s chest, something warm and familiar and overwhelming. “I’m so proud of you, Lance.”

He doesn’t let a second pass before he’s wrapping his arms around her tightly, doesn’t find a single care when the hug makes his ribs ache and leans his forehead on his mother’s shoulder instead.

“I’ve missed you _so much,_ ” he whispers, his voice a little wobbly.

His mother makes a soft little sound against his neck. “We’re so glad to have you back, Lance. We … I have looked up at the stars every night since you left, hoping you were safe out there.”

Lance blinks against the sting in his eyes. And so what if he cries a little, _or a lot_. He has definitely earned his right to shed a few tears in public, thank you very much.

“I had my team looking out for me,” he says, smiling around a sob. “They’ve got my back.”

They pull away from each other, both of them with teary eyes now, and his mum nods – more to herself than in answer.

“I cannot wait to meet them all somewhere that’s not a warzone,” she says after a brief moment of silence, and Lance stares at her with wide eyes and a heart that is light and heavy at the same time.

“Yeah,” he whispers. “Me too.”

His gaze shifts to the side, to the door that leads to his best friend.

“Go,” his mum says, pressing a kiss to his cheek before heading to the stairs. “I’ll see you later.”

Lance lingers in the hallway until she is out of sight. Then he takes a few more unsteady steps and knocks on Hunk’s door.

It’s his parents who open it, both of them looking at Lance warmly. “Hunk already told us he was expecting someone,” says his dad, and with that they move past Lance and head outside with a friendly wave to give the boys the time they so desperately need after falling from the sky and crashing apart from each other.

After the door has closed with a quiet click, Lance locks eyes with Hunk, who is still wrapped in his blankets and seems barely awake if the way his eyes keep drooping is any indication, or how slowly his hand moves when he stretches it out to Lance.

But he’s here, right in front of him. _Safe_.

“Hey,” Lance greets him softly, the weight of a whole spaceship fleet falling off his shoulders, and he breaks into a smile so big it hurts his cheeks. He’s already halfway to the bed when Hunk responds with an equally awed, “Hey, buddy.”

They fall against each other in a heap of bruised, uncoordinated limbs, Lance perched on the edge of Hunk’s bed and holding onto his friend’s broad shoulders like the world will be back on the brink of destruction if he so much as thinks about letting go. Hunk wraps both arms around Lance’s waist, which knocks a pained grunt from between Lance’s teeth but it’s worth it, _so worth it_ to hurt a little as long as he can make sure Hunk is alive, breathing choked little gasps against his shoulder.

“We made it,” Lance says. And only once the words have made it past his lips, for the first time, their meaning actually rings true. Hunk nods, he can feel the movement through his thin hospital gown and in the very core of his chest. It makes him laugh in disbelief. Lance laughs, ignoring his protesting ribs because, “We made it, Hunk, we’re home. We’re _home_.”

Silence fills the barely existent space between them after that but it is a good silence. It is pure awe to be alive and safe, and there _are_ a thousand words Lance wants to say but here’s the thing: They can wait. Finally, they can wait. After all, he won’t be relentlessly reminded of the horrifyingly quiet vastness of space anymore if he forgets to fill the silence for a few minutes now. For the moment, this hospital room is as far as his universe extends and in its blissfully limited confines, there is nothing to be afraid of.

They are still curled up on Hunk’s bed when Pidge and Allura find them.

“Mind if we join you?” Allura asks, her voice bright as a sunrise. She is supporting Pidge, whose left leg is in a cast. It doesn’t seem to bother them at all, though, because the grin Pidge shoots Lance and Hunk is overflowing with happiness and pride, their eyes gleaming as lively as they could possibly be.

Lance responds with a wide grin of his own while Hunk carefully shifts on the mattress to make room. “Squeeze in, guys,” he says.

Allura beams. Lance meets her gaze, tilts his head in wordless greeting and as if to say, _what are you waiting for?_

Allura’s question has been a rhetorical one, anyway. None of them could possibly mind being cuddled up and assured of everyone’s safety – not when finally being in each other’s space like this again makes Lance feel like his inner gravity has just rediscovered its balance, centering him. He is no longer floating aimlessly and failing to get solid ground beneath his feet. He is _home._

And after being reunited with his family _, this_ is the last missing piece: Having the team here, Hunk’s steadily rising and falling chest under his ear, Allura’s arm slung loosely around his back and Pidge, after some complicated arranging of limbs now comfortably on the foot end of the bed, curling a warm hand around Lance’s ankle.

“How’s your leg?” he asks, angling his head so he can see them.

Pidge shrugs. “Broken ankle, but we should be able to recreate an Altean healing pod within the next few days so I won’t be stuck with it for long.”

“You’ll probably build it yourself to have it done faster,” Lance says half-teasingly and Pidge looks at him for a second before shooting him a satisfied grin. They all know it’s true.

Allura shifts, ending up somewhere between Pidge’s good leg and Lance’s hip, then lets out a deep breath. “I don’t know how to thank you all,” she begins quietly. “There are no words in any language I know that could properly …”

“You don’t have to thank us, Princess,” Hunk interrupts her gently. “You are just as much a part of Voltron as we are. We did this as a team. We won this, _together_. And …” He breaks off for a moment, and Lance has just turned his head in irritation because they’re still missing someone here, when he realizes the door has opened again.

Leaning against each other, Keith and Shiro are standing in the door frame, looking at the rest of them with open affection in their faces.

“Hi, guys,” Keith says quietly.

Hunk’s eyes soften even more than they already have, his gaze impossibly kind, before he continues.

“We don’t have each other’s backs because we owe anything to each other. We do that because we’re friends, right? And I’m really proud to call all of you my friends.”

Everyone seems to collectively hold their breath for a second.

Keith, surprising everyone including himself, is the first to move. Something in his expression crumbles and then he is swiftly moving out of the steadying hold that Shiro had around his waist and practically leaping onto the bed to pull Hunk into a messy hug.

Lance narrowly avoids an elbow to his chin and wants to scowl at the back of Keith’s head but the entire situation is so out of their natural order and so fragile, nobody dares to disturb it in case it might change Keith’s mind and send him running the other direction.

He needs to stay, though. They need him here.

Hunk tells him as much, words muffled between his own and Keith’s shaking body, and Keith makes a choked sound and pulls away to look at him.

“It’s,” he swallows, wide-eyed, and tries again with a vulnerability written all over his features he hasn’t shown openly like this in years – if ever. “It’s an honor to be your friend, Hunk. I’m glad you’re okay.” He slowly turns around to the rest of them, still rocking the deer caught in headlights look, but he doesn’t seem ready to bolt anymore. He is not running from this. From _them_. “I’m so glad you’re all okay.”

“Right back at you, you big softie,” Lance tells him and for some reason it doesn’t sound half as teasing as he thought because his voice wavers a little. Keith shows him a hint of a smile, his eyes soft and maybe – no, _definitely_ shiny with unshed tears.

“You have been the best leader Voltron could have hoped for,” Allura says, tilting her head at Keith, who recoils a bit as Hunk and Pidge immediately chime in with agreement.

Keith gets off the bed – probably just in time to avoid getting pulled into a group hug – and turns to Shiro with a torn expression. Shiro is still leaning by the door frame but he pushes himself off the wall to go and put a reassuring hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Allura is right,” he says, and there is no hint of bitterness in his voice. Only pride, and something of even more significance.

Something that keeps Lance and the others from saying anything as the black paladins regard each other in loaded silence.

“We couldn’t have done it without you, Shiro,” Keith says finally. His shoulders lose a bit of their rigid stance when Shiro takes another step to him, his hand moving to Keith’s chest, right over his strong, rapid heartbeat.

“I got your back,” Shiro replies, looking at Keith for a long moment before shifting his gaze to the rest of the team, extending his words to everyone.

Lance smiles. He doesn’t need to look at the others to know they are doing the same. He just knows.

It’s because he has left bits of his heart in each of them – all of them have – and to be in the same space like this feels so fundamentally right, the certainty of belonging here is like a pleasant shiver that reaches all the way down to his bones.

They saved the universe.

They saved the Earth.

And, Lance thinks faintly as he looks around the circle of achingly familiar faces, along the way, they all saved each other.

 

**Author's Note:**

> listen, i'm so soft for all of these characters and fluff is usually not my field of expertise at all but after watching season 7, i had to write this. come cry with me please, i have so many emotions.


End file.
